The Peruvian Vertigo
discography we have compiled is most certainly not complete. The
releases we found are palatable, though. There does not seem to be any
system in the catalogue numbering, so we present what we have
encountered in approximate numerical order. Only the first two
LP's we offer do not follow this rule, since these are missing
numbers
from the British catalogue (!) and undoubtably released earlier than
the other albums on display. Peruvian albums are distributed by ''El
Verrey'', a local agent in Lima. There are quite some releases unique
to this country, as you wil readily discern further below. The
vinyl used is often of mediocre quality. Covers are made ''German''
style: laminated single board sleeves. Album matrix numbers are
hand-etched., containing the catalogue number and the side (marked
''L'' for ''lado''). Album labels have ''Vertigo'' in the second white
circle on the A-side and ''1'' on the third. The B-side label has its
own styling and fonts. ''Industria Peruana'' becomes visible at 5
o'clock. Early albums are undated.
Singles were released on swirl long after the demise of the label
elsewhere. They were issued in a company sleeve. We have not found any
picture sleeve singles from Peru.

Another missing link in the British
discography, this sampler goes for hard-hitting rock. Only the Beggars
Opera track seems out of place (a non-LP single, always welcome, of
course). The B-side of the sole Ronno single is nice to have too.
The cover is simple and effective. If you love swirl, you will love
this. The backcover has very nice pictures of all the bands involved. I
never before saw a photo of Ronno as a band of five members, but there
it is. Also the picture of Still Life was unknown to me and beneath it
the until now unknown line-up is listed! Small but interesting liner
notes about ''heavy''.

The Vertigo logo on front is black.
No running time is mentioned.
Matrix number A-side:
VERT. 6360078 1L
Matrix number B-side:
6360078 2L

Rarity scale: R3

And yet another missing link in the
British
discography, this sampler goes for hard-hitting rock, or did we say so
before? Both the Beggars
Opera and the Ronno single have their other side featured here. Still
Life is substituted with Gravy Train and Freedom, otherwise much the
same concept as Vol. 1.
Titles are again translated into Spanish on the label and the backcover.

The cover is again
simplicity itself, although there evidently now was enough financial
scope for the inclusion of a second colour of ink at the printer's.
Again the backcover has rare pictures of all the bands involved,
as well as another set of (as far as I can decipher the Spanish) rather
intelligent liner notes about the music.

Notes: The bandname
''Freedom'' is misspelt as ''Freedon'' on the front cover.

The tracks included here make it clear
that this is of later date than the two previous samplers. Still, even
when opting
for the heavy side of Vertigo, the choice of tracks wouldn't be ours,
but is quite logical nonetheless.

There even is some sort of cover design
now, but it fails to attract us in any way. Surely something more
adventurous could have been concocted with these graphical elements.
The babbling sentence ''nownownow'' etc., just underneath ''three''
doesn't help any to improve
it. The backcover now only holds pictures of the newcomers Alex Harvey
(without
band), Status Quo and Demis Roussos of Aphrodite's Child (again no
band, but clouded in smoke). The liner notes are more elaborate than
before. Titles are in
Spanish on the backcover but not on the label. We even are informed
that Rick Wakeman plays moog synthesizer on Sabbath's Sabbra cadabra, just in case you
forgot.

Track listing A-side:
Abacab (Genesis)/ No Reply At All (Genesis)/ Me And Sarah Jane
(Tony Banks)/ Keep It Dark (Genesis).Track listing B-side:
Dodo (Genesis)/ Lurker (Genesis)/ Who Dunnit? (Genesis)/ Man On The
Corner (Phil Collins)/ Like It Or Not (Mike Rutherford)/ Another Record
(Genesis).

No Vertigo logo on front.
No running time is mentioned.
Matrix number A-side:
Y5-TGO-63021629-A
Matrix number B-side:
Y5-TGO-63021629-B
There has been a substantial amount of correction to the matrix
numbers. Digits are scratched out, others act as replacement: utter
chaos.

Rarity scale: R2?

Somehow all Genesis albums after The lamb lies down on Broadway seem
transitional efforts that raise expectations of something new and
fresh, but unfortunately in the end never really live up to them. This
one is a good point in case. Many wrong choices about the timbres of
the keyboards severely mar most tracks when listened to some 20 years
later. We cannot much admire the mixing either: the up-front drumming
sounds much too dense and simple and obscures any detailed arrangement.
The imitation horns on the synths are pretty bad too. Maybe it is
characteristic that the best two tracks are no group compositions. The
richly harmonized Me and Sarah Jane
conveys an emotion both real and gripping through adequate musical
means and mild unexpected twists. Very impressive. The luxuriously
swaying Like it or not exudes
temperate power without trying to please too hard. Also quite
impressive. Some of the rest has its moments, but most of the times the
band tries to cater for too many audiences at once. By doing so a
hybrid
style is created somewhere in between prog-rock, poppy songwriting and
even some groove-dance-feeling. They seem just on the brink of letting
out of the sack whatever interesting developments lie dormant inside
their music, but no, they do not.
The cover was issued in differently coloured designs in Britain, but we
do not know whether or not this was also the case in Peru. The slight
embossing of the British releases was dumped in Peru: the cover is as
smooth
as a freshly shaven chin. The backcover was executed in grey. The inner
sleeve with
photo and information was left in place, but printed on extremely
flimsy paper.

Notes: this album was
released in Britain on Charisma (CBR 102) in 1981 and in the USA on
Atlantic (19313) in the same year.

No Vertigo logo on front.
No running time is mentioned.
Matrix number A-side:
YTGO-6359109-6A
Matrix number B-side:
YTGO-6359109-6B

Rarity scale: R2?

This album has been seen by many
reviewers as ''prog-rock'', probably because of its long tracks, as it
is hard to find another reason. Isn't prog-rock's foremost
characteristic a more or less elaborate architecture? This record really
hasn't too much of that, even though some grand piano episodes attempt
to suggest so. Only the title track would actually qualify. To the
record's credit can be said, however, that at least some of the
melodies do not immediately go where you already knew they would go
when they took off. But even so, almost everything is much too long to
be borne by its musical substance. No dexterous guitar, however
fluently played, can make up for this deficit. So most of the time
listening to this album is spent waiting for the next thing to happen,
definitely not our idea of a ''progressive'' record, let alone an
adventurous one.

Notes: this album was
released in Britain on Vertigo (6369 109) and in the USA on Warner
Brothers (23738), all in the same year.

6366 115 BLACK SABBATH - SABOTAGE
(1975)

Matrix number A-side:
VERTIGO 6366115 1L

Matrix number B-side:
VERTIGO 6366115 2L

Rarity scale: R2

This album is identical to the Italian
release and
discussed in the Italy section. In Peru
the backcover was reduced to black and white. Obviously they used a
photocopy of the German issue, as there is a credit for German
Phonogram that probably was overlooked and therefore not erased.

This Peruvian issue follows the USA
version. That this incarnation of Genesis was a competent live band is
well-known, and this double album does not prove otherwise. Still the
live sides seem superfluous to us, since they do not add anything to
the tracks in question. The only real spot of inspiration seems to
happen on Afterglow, that
loses something of the resignation the studio version carries, but wins
intensity. In the cage is
really different to the studio and in fact more or less a medley of old
tunes, very well crafted, but the - modest - vocal pyrotechnics of
Collins are irritating rather than enjoyable. The fourth sides of odds
and sods from different studio sessions is patchy too, but at least two
tracks stand out. These are not Paperlate
(sounds cerebral) or You might recall
(a much too average song), but rather Me
and Virgil with its epic storyline and adequate musical
processing and the extremely wistful Evidence
of autumn, another memorable melody by Tony Banks. The closing Open door veers too close to
sentimentality and therefore should have been reworked before release.

Notes: The cover
mentions another catalogue number: 6673 001. It seems to have been
common practice on double albums issued by Phonogram/Philips, that the
cover is assigned an extra number. Now why should that be?
This was released in the UK (different version, though, without the
studio tracks) on Charisma (GEN 2002) and in the USA on Atlantic (SD
2-2000), all in 1982.

SINGLES
and EP's

Peruvian singles have the same kind of
A-side labels as the albums do. The B-side label can be viewed below.
Curiously enough, later releases have the Dutch copyright notice
''Stemra'' on the label...

We have found the following single
releases from Peru, all in a company
sleeve from ''El Firrey'':

There are also some EP's from Peru. If you have any details, please
contact us. You can view two here below, both subtitled ''Coleccion
underground'', followed by a number. We would like to know what no.1
could have been.

We sincerely hope that you will
be of assistance in making this information as reliable as possible.
In case of any contributions or questions or even complaints, please
use this here
virtual address: e-mail.